There’s positive and negative reinforcement and then there’s whatever the heck this company is doing.
A recent TikTok has revealed the highly questionable motivational policies of an unnamed Florida restaurant. In order to “encourage” its servers and presumably to up their sales, the establishment has created a wall of shame where the waitstaff’s tip percentage is made public to all co-workers.
Darron Cardosa a.k.a. the Bitchy Waiter (@officialtbw) is a writer for Food and Wine with over three decades of experience waiting tables. His TikTok account is dedicated to service industry advocacy and satirical videos sending up the behind-the-scenes of your favorite restaurants.
In a video posted on Feb. 10, Cardosa slams the restaurant’s bullying policies in a minute-long rant that condemns the practice as “the worst I’ve ever seen.” The video has since picked up 228,100 views and counting.
“They’re requiring all their servers to make at least 20% averaged and if they don’t they might lose a shift,” he tells his viewers in disbelief.
Cardosa points out two servers that are running behind the required average of 20%. He then asks if another server, who has 22%, gets any kind of bonus for her efforts.
“Does she get, like extra shifts or maybe a free plate of food?” he asks incredulously.
“They also do this thing where there’s a ‘Wall of Shame’ if someone didn’t do something right,” Cardosa says, pointing out another dubious policy.
“Michelle didn’t put the salad tongs back,” he says, pointing to a photo of the Wall of Shame where Michelle was written up. “Do you really think that’s gonna make Michelle do a better job?”
“I hope they see this and know this is screwed up,” he says. He then sarcastically states, “This is why ‘nobody wants to work anymore.'”
@officialtbw I’ve seen a lot of really horrible restaurant policies, but this one has to be the worst I’ve ever seen.#restaurantlife #serverlife #waitressproblem ♬ original sound – Bitchy Waiter
McKeea Painter (@macdaddy2.1) commented, “That’s so unfair. So many old people live in Florida and think the norm is still 10-15 percent. For real.”
Another user pointed out the frustration of dealing with “leadership” of this kind, writing “Oh god, micromanagement at its finest.”
One viewer stated that policies like this keep her from returning to the service industry. “Every time I think about going back to serving I quickly remember why I don’t with this video lol. It’s probably worse now w/ tipping fatigue.”
Another person pointed out that there is no way to account for what a server is tipped. Many times even “perfect” service can result in a less than ample tip. “There’s people who don’t believe in tipping at all, while others will judge every little thing and take away from tips. This is ridiculous!”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Cardosa via his website for further comment.
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Source: https://www.dailydot.com/news/wall-of-shame-under-20-percent-tip/